


jam #03: Parallel Investigations

by PokeNirvash



Series: Kinky Kunoichi [3]
Category: Jam-Orbital, Original Work
Genre: Detective Work, Gen, High School Delinquents, Over-the-Nose (OTN) Masks, Tokyo (City), Yakuza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 14:56:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19793245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PokeNirvash/pseuds/PokeNirvash
Summary: Naokuu and Shin have officially started to go down separate paths towards the same goal: identifying Muchise Yokoshima's kidnapper(s) and rescuing her from them. While Shin looks for potential suspects at his school with the help of two of his classmates, Naokuu visits Muchise's last known location in person in the hopes of finding some shred of evidence.





	1. Prologue

The midnight blue late evening sky that hung over Tokyo shrouded the city and its individual wards in darkness. At least, that would have been the case, were it not for the lights illuminating most of its streets, both major and minor roads receiving light both bright and dim, depending on the level of use. The streetlamps mounted onto the utility poles running along the right-hand side of the residential downslope in Nakano, for example, provided enough luminescence for any pedestrians out at that hour to return home, amid only the faint sound of chirping crickets.

Pedestrians like Shin Kizuka. The morning hours were of little matter to him beyond lingering, steeping disappointment, and the afternoon was filled with enough angst to send him literally running mad. But now, in the dead of night, he was calm and confident, enough to travel to his house on the downslope without even the slightest worry.

Upon his arrival, he went straight upstairs to his bedroom and changed out of his school uniform, plus the uwabaki he inadvertently left with, and switched into a more casual sleeping attire: a generic dark green T-shirt with signs of fading color, and light brown cotton pants with an elastic waistband. Once dressed, he raised his hands above his head, the right held up straight with the upper half held in place by his left hand, and stretched his limbs. He grunted softly behind closed lips as he loosened up, his eyes clenched shut. He soon finished, opening his eyes and lowering his limbs as he exhaled and then spoke to himself.

“Welp, time for bed.”

Shin then stepped forward, walking across the laminate hardwood floor of his bedroom from the side where his sliding closet doors laid to the side where his bed sat. Instead of going right for the bed, though, he swerved to the left, approaching the light switch beside the door. As he walked, he started thinking to himself in place of actual speaking.

“ _This is it. It all begins as soon as morning comes. That’s when I’ll start down the path to rescuing Muchise. But before I can do so much as find where she is, first comes the question: who could have taken her?_ ”

The fluorescent shoji light built into the ceiling of Shin’s comparatively modern bedroom remained on for a few more seconds before the switch was flipped, and the light dimmed until completely off. Shin’s room was now barely visible in the darkness, but his eyes adjusted fast, making things somewhat easy to spot.

“ _The yakuza are out,_ that _much is for sure. Which means the only other possible starting point is Sadameicho._ ”

The distance Shin had to walk with what little he could see was short, though. He approached the bed in only a few steps, lifting up the top sheet and slipping his lower body under the covers. Once that much was done, he scooted forward and laid down, his hands behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling, for what felt like minutes on end.

“ _As obsessed with fighting as its male student body is, Muchise was quite popular amongst them. A paragon of unattainable perfection. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of the more brutish of their ranks was the culprit in all of this._ _That said, I can’t go up to them and demand her release. Hell, even asking them a simple question’s too much for me. I just can’t risk an altercation with even_ one _of them!_ ” He sighed voicelessly, lowering his elbows some as his face relaxed. “ _But still, I_ have _to know if they’re worthy as suspects, if_ they’re _key in finding Muchise._ ” He closed his eyes, not in sleepiness but in introspection. “ _I never thought it’d come to this, but…_ ” And then he opened them, glaring at the ceiling with an annoyed mental sigh. “ _Looks like I’ll have to rely on_ those _two._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. A shoji light is a box-shaped ceiling light with a rice paper exterior housing the light source inside, with a wooden frame for stability and decoration.


	2. Act 1

The next morning was a pleasant one. Bright blue sky with a lingering orange tint from the sunrise that already passed, and white clouds floating by with no sign of a storm, let alone another overcast. Picture perfect for the early daylight hours, for sure. Even though it was surrounded on many sides on residential buildings either two or three stories tall, the 14-car parking lot in southern Nakano, just one dead end street away from the Yokoshimas’, got an equal taste of the daylight. Much like the previous night, few cars were parked on either side of the lot, leaving over half of the spots empty. What cars were already parked were backed into their spots, ready to pull out onto the street without any need to go in reverse. In contrast to that seeming status quo, a vehicle coming up on the further cul-de-sac pulled into a spot right away, facing in instead of out. That vehicle was Naokuu’s blue Civic.

“Here we are,” he said to himself as his car rolled to a stop between the marked yellow lines. “I’ll admit, this whole thing is a little more personal than I would’ve liked.” He reached out towards the transmission lever and moved it up from D to P, parking the vehicle. “Especially since this is _Yokoshima’s_ daughter we’re talking about.” His hand moved over to the parking brake, jerking it upwards with a push of the button on the end. “But it’s something that’s gotta be done.” He then pushed the button on the buckle for his seatbelt. “After all, I _did_ promise him I’d do her case first.” He then grabbed his keys by the bow, turning off the engine before pulling them out. “And since it hasn’t been reported, my risk of being found out is pretty low.” Finally, he grabbed the interior door handle and pulled with his fingers, pushing the door out.

Naokuu stepped out of his car and into the open morning air, taking two steps as he closed the door behind him. He stood up straight and looked straight out at nothing in particular. He was dressed somewhat casually for today, wearing a white T-shirt with a police badge-shaped logo over the right side of his chest, dark blue jeans, and a black pair of casual sneakers. As was normal for him, a cigarette was sticking out of his mouth, in the right corner of his lips. It was barely lit, a faint trail of smoke slowly seeping from the end.

“Either way, if I can solve _this_ case, the rest should come easy. But they’re gonna have to wait. I can’t go after the perps if there’s no guarantee who they are. Which means…”

Naokuu pulled his cigarette out of his mouth, nestled between his thumb and two of his fingers. He silently blew out a stream of smoke before holding his hand up and crushing the stick, bending it like he was a few steps away from snapping it in two.

“…first I gotta find out all that I _can_.”

With his car parked and his cigarette discarded, just as they were last night when he did this, Naokuu came up to the Yokoshimas’ front porch and pressed the door alarm, the buzz lasting for a few seconds as it usually did. He stood facing the painted brown door, a thin strip of window centered in the upper half of the door to match those on either side, as he waited for a response. Much to his luck, that single buzz was enough, because the door opened wide no more than a second after it silenced.

“Ah, Naokuu,” Yokoshima said as he held onto the inner knob with his left hand. Compared to the suit he wore yesterday, his wardrobe for the day consisted of just a simple brown polo shirt tucked into a pale taupe pair of pants, with a belt and no tie. He gently closed his eyes, smiling at Naokuu in greeting. “You’re here earlier than I expected.”

“Yeah, we didn’t really agree on a time last night, so I came here as soon as I could.”

“Not a problem.” Yokoshima bowed and stepped to the side, holding his right hand out in gesture. “Please, come in. Machise and I were just sitting down for breakfast; we’d love for you to join us.”

“Sure thing,” Naokuu replied with a nod, stepping forward past the door and into the house. “It’d be stupid of me to pass up free food.”

All Yokoshima could do at Naokuu’s aside was chuckle softly under his breath.

“Thank you for the food!”

The voices of Naokuu, Yokoshima, and the latter’s wife resonated throughout the otherwise silent breakfast nook moments later. The nook laid just off the side from the kitchen that fed into the great room, the main centerpiece being a white round table with a marbled linoleum tabletop, three chairs seated around it. Though the windows were open to let in the natural light, the wooden ceiling fan hanging over the table was switched on to compensate for how little light was getting in anyways thanks to the surrounding houses.

The three sat at the table in the only chairs surrounding it, and after voicing the essential phrase, they began eating. They all had the same main and side dishes: a fillet of salmon done shio koji style, a bowl of white rice, and three smaller bowls containing miso soup – with carrot, burdock and cabbage – five tamagoyaki slices with a green onion garnish, and pickled cucumber slices. However, they all had different beverages: Yokoshima and his wife had green tea, freshly poured from a pot in the middle of the table, while Naokuu settled for a glass of water.

While Yokoshima grabbed one of the rolled omelets from their special bowl and ate it, and Machise sipped on her bowl of miso soup, Naokuu went straight for the salmon. Using his chopsticks, he pressed down on the exposed side of the fillet to flake off a piece from the middle, picking it up and popping it into his mouth. After chewing it for a few seconds, he perked up in surprise, blinking once for emphasis.

“Hey, this is pretty good.”

“Why thank you,” Machise said, tilting her head and smiling. In contrast to the previous evening, her short, faded red hair hung freely instead of staying tied back. Her outfit for the morning was a pastel yellow V-neck long-sleeved shirt and baby blue ankle-length skirt. A pleasant look for a pleasant woman. “I’m glad to see you enjoy my cooking, Naokuu.”

“Yeah, this has to be the best meal I’ve had in years.”

“Years, huh?” Machise opened her eyes, looking at Naokuu with her yellow pools. “That long without a good meal?”

Yokoshima swallowed his mouthful of cucumbers and grinned. “When your daily diet consists of coffee, cigarettes, and take-out noodles, that’s what it comes down to.” He picked up his miso bowl and sipped from it.

Machise gasped softly as she turned to Yokoshima, putting her hand over her mouth. “My word…”

“Look, enough about my eating habits,” Naokuu said as he set down his chopsticks. “I should probably tell you why I came over here in the first place, Mrs. Yokoshima.”

Machise softly grunted as she picked up her tea cup. “To investigate our daughter’s disappearance, right?” She gently tipped the cup forward and started sipping.

“Ah, so he told you about it already.”

Yokoshima closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his head after setting down his bowl, smiling sheepishly with a matching grunt. “I know you said it was between the two of us, but Machise cares as much about Muchise as _I_ do, so I just _had_ to tell her.”

“Don’t worry, I can keep your secret for you.” Machise winked at Naokuu as she set down her cup.

“Not a problem, I was expecting you to know sooner or later.” As he spoke to them, Naokuu picked up the cucumber bowl with one hand and a thin shaker of hot pepper flakes with the other. He tapped the shaker with his index, the red flakes falling onto the tsukumono. “That said, of all the kidnappings these past few months, Muchise’s is by far the safest to look into right now.” He set down the shaker and picked up his chopsticks, eating some of the cucumber slices.

“That’s true,” Yokoshima said with a solemn smile. “She only went missing two nights ago, so there’s still plenty of time to find her.”

Machise nodded. “And it’s not like the police are going after her themselves. We haven’t even gotten the chance to file a report,” she said as she looked down at her lap.

“There’s also that whole ‘indefinite shelving’ deal with them.” Naokuu swallowed his mouthful and set the bowl down. “But above all else, there’s the personal connection. It’s _your_ daughter who was kidnapped here, Mr. Yokoshima,” he said as he turned to face his mentor with a self-assured smile. “That being the case, it shouldn’t be _too_ difficult to see this through to the end.”

Yokoshima and Machise both smiled with renewed confidence at Naokuu’s words, the former sighing softly under his breath in further calm. While Machise turned back to face him, Yokoshima kept his eyes on Naokuu. “I see. Then we should probably get started on it as soon as we can.”

“Let’s just focus on finishing breakfast first,” Naokuu interjected as he held up a rolled omelet with his chopsticks. “After _that_ , we can talk about her disappearance, _and_ all that you two know about it.” Without any further word, he popped the egg into his mouth and resumed eating.

********

“Like I was saying, that girl in class 3-C is _totally_ into me!”

“I highly doubt that.”

“Pffft, that’s because you weren’t _there_ ,” Sento said in response to Ugo’s denial, holding up his hand for emphasis. “She was lookin’ right _at_ me, and blushing to boot!” He slammed his hand down against his desk, eyes closed with a wide smile. “That’s _gotta_ count for somethin’!”

The bleach-blond student’s exclamations were the loudest noises to come from class 3-A, the adjacent halls slightly more populated than the other day but just as quiet in comparison. There were a few more people in the classroom also, either seated at their desks or talking in groups of three or four. Sento and Ugo were the only participants in their little conversation, the former sitting at his desk with no jacket as per usual, and the latter standing and leaning against another desk with his hands resting on the edge.

Ugo groaned at Sento’s insistence, vertical lines forming on the side of his head in further disbelief. But before he could say anything…

“Hey there, guys.”

Ugo looked up at the approaching student and smiled. “Good morning, Kizuka.”

Sento, meanwhile, just looked at Shin with a pout. “If you’re gonna ask about your bag, it’s over at your desk,” he said, pointing back with his thumb.

“Thanks, but I wasn’t gonna ask about that. You see…” Shin brought up his right hand into a vertical stance, closing the corresponding eye as he shot the two a small smile. “I was hoping you two could do me a favor.”

“And what would _that_ be?” Ugo asked.

Shin closed his other eye. “Oh, nothing big, just asking around about who might’ve kidnapped Muchise.”

“Are you _serious_?” Sento put his arm down on the desk and leaned in towards Shin, looking at him in annoyed disbelief. “We told you yesterday that it just _had_ to be the yakuza! I understand you denying it yourself, but makin’ me second-guess _myself_ is goin’ too far, man!”

Ugo glanced down at Sento as he ranted, before looking back at Shin with his usual calm. “Who do _you_ think it was, then, Kizuka?”

“At this point, someone here at school.”

“What?”

“Okay, now I’m _convinced_ you’re crazy.”

Shin’s sheepish smile widened some, a beat of sweat forming on the side of his head. “It’s just a hunch right now, but as popular as Muchise was, any one student here could be a suspect.” He opened his eyes. “And of them all, the delinquents are the most likely ones.”

Ugo grunted softly, closing his eyes and nodding. “Is that so?”

“Well there you go; you have your suspects. So why ask for _our_ help?”

“Like I said, it’s only a hunch.” Shin glanced off to the side, the sweatdrop growing slightly. “Besides, I don’t really do well with their type. And you two have dealt with them _more_ than me, so…” He closed his yes as his sheepish grin grew a little more to show his teeth, further showing how nervous he was. “Help me out here? Pretty please?” he asked with a quiet voice.

Both Sento and Ugo stared at Shin for a second, in nearly equal disbelief at what he was asking and how he was asking it. As they processed his request, they blinked once, and then started formulating their decisions.

For Ugo, he made his almost immediately, lowering his head and sighing. “I’ll see what I can do for you, Kizuka. Can’t promise anything, though.”

“Good enough for me,” Shin replied, turning his head to the left. “And you, Sento?”

“I dunno, Shin. I mean, you _do_ know what you’re askin’, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Shin said as he bent his knees and rested his crossed arms on Sento’s desk, looking him in the eye. “But you’ve been wanting to get in their inner circle forever now, right? Well now’s your chance!”

“Listen, dude, I _don’t_ think accusing them of something they prolly didn’t do is a good first impression for me to make. Like, _at all_.”

“Then _don’t_ accuse them! Just ask if they know anything about where Muchise went, who might’ve taken her if not the yakuza, stuff like that!” Shin brought his arms up and put them on Sento’s shoulders, making him grunt softly. “Think of it as making small talk, or even digging for rumors! Whatever doesn’t direct blame towards _them_.”

Sento grumbled some under his breath before looking back up at Shin. “Alright, fine! But you _owe_ me for this if I get my ass beat because of your stupid request!”

Shin’s persuasive grin turned sheepish again, the sweatdrop returning. “Hey now, no need to be so harsh…”

“He has a fair point, Mochino,” Ugo added.

Sento grunted, crossing his arms. “Just tryin’ to get _my_ point across, that’s all…”

Meanwhile, at the desks along the wall, Shin’s quintet of admirers watched his conversation with Sento and Ugo near the front of the class. Shirei and Chikuru sat at their desks, while Yukisa, Utsugi and Akari all stood around Shin’s, each in correspondence with how close their own desks were. After over a minute of silent observation, Yukisa broke the ice.

“I can’t believe it. He’s _still_ worrying over Yokoshima?”

“I wouldn’t say he’s ‘worrying’,” Akari said.

“Whatever!” Yukisa exclaimed, crossing her arms and turning her head to the side, her twintails swinging behind her. “He’s still hanging onto her, and it’s _bothering_ me!”

Utsugi leaned forward slightly, her hands behind her back. “We _were_ kinda hard on him yesterday, you gotta admit.”

“To the point of sending him running away, no less,” Shirei chimed in.

“So of course he’d still be dwelling on her,” Akari concluded.

Their comments just made Yukisa even more frustrated, the blonde grumbling as her right eye twitched.

In contrast, Utsugi smiled some. “Even so, I’m glad to see he’s in a good mood again.”

As they watched him, oblivious to them, Shin stood upright and nodded to Sento in what appeared to be agreement. His sheepish smile had calmed now to a perfectly normal grin. He closed his eyes as he widened it some, silently chuckling at a comment the other made.

“Mm-hmm,” Chikuru grunted in agreement. “Seeing that cute smile of his is enough to make _me_ feel all better~.”

Yukisa looked back up at where Shin was. “Good mood or not, it’s pointless for him to keep this up when it _should_ be clear that she’s _gone_.”

“Even though it’s only been a day?” Akari asked, glancing at Yukisa.

“Especially.” The blonde’s gaze narrowed in further annoyance. “He _really_ needs to move on, and _fast_.”

********

“Okay, let’s start from the beginning.”

Just as they agreed upon, after finishing breakfast, Naokuu went right to speaking with the Yokoshimas about Muchise. They had moved from the kitchen into the great room, lit up by both the sunlight shining in from the front window and the ceiling-mounted hanging light with four torchieres placed on either end of its cross-shaped base. Naokuu sat on one of the two couches surrounding the coffee table in the middle of the room, while Yokoshima and Machise sat on the other. With his hands resting on his knees and brought close together, nothing held in them, he looked at the middle-aged couple and began his discussion.

“At what point did you first realize that Muchise had disappeared?”

“It was after we came home from dinner, for sure,” Yokoshima said as he looked down at his lap. “At first, we thought nothing of it. Her bedroom light was on, and her shoes were at the door...” He raised his head as he continued speaking. “We thought she was just lounging around upstairs, chatting with a friend over the phone or something.”

“In hindsight, we should have noticed something was wrong when she didn’t come down and greet us.” Machise turned her head and looked at her husband. “But when half an hour passed and we didn’t hear so much as a sound from her… _That’s_ when we started to worry.”

“I went up to her room to check on her, but when I arrived, she wasn’t there. We started combing the house immediately after, but she was nowhere to be found. Not upstairs, or downstairs, or even in the backyard…” Yokoshima’s voice started to crack out of sorrow as he spoke, soon whimpering as he reached the verge of tears.

As he listened, Naokuu remained motionless, for the most part. He kept a calm, serious expression as the Yokoshimas shared their first-hand experience, but winced slightly at Yokoshima’s whimper, his gaze narrowing and his frown extending just a tad in the slightest pain.

Machise reached over and patted Yokoshima on the back as he started to gently sob. “At that point, we knew in our hearts our Muchise was missing. Accepting that fact was tough enough for the both of us, and reporting it to the police or even the press would’ve only made it worse.” She then looked up at Naokuu. “But I’m glad he told _you_ about it, Naokuu. Having someone so close take time out of their busy schedule to look into this… We couldn’t thank you _enough_!”

“Much obliged, ma’am,” Naokuu replied, intertwining his fingers at the uppermost knuckle. “Based on your testimony, there aren’t any signs pointing to an obvious suspect. At this point…” He paused for a second, looking right at the Yokoshimas. “It’s likely that the yakuza _did_ kidnap her.”

Yokoshima whimpered louder through his sobs, closing his eyes shut as he continued to cry onto his glasses. Machise’s face, meanwhile, took on a look of dread, which extended to the grip she had on the back of her husband’s shirt.

“R-Really?”

“It’s just a hunch, but it makes sense if you think about it. As active as the battles are nowadays, several clans have _gotta_ be pissed that the police aren’t challenging their reckless behavior. Personally attacking them by kidnapping the loved one of a reputable officer would be a surefire way to force them into it.” Now intertwined at the second knuckle, Naokuu’s fingers squeezed against one another in frustration, his brow furrowing slightly to match. “If they did that, they’d get the best effect targeting either the Superintendent General or a local commissioner.” He glanced off to the side. “But if they wanted to work _up_ to that, going after someone as lauded as Detective Yokoshima would be a start.” He then looked down and closed his eyes. “Add do that this house being on the edge of that night’s battle, and you have my initial theory: Muchise was kidnapped by the yakuza as part of a personal attack towards _you_ , Mr. Yokoshima.”

Yokoshima slowly looked up at Naokuu, tears still streaming down his face but his sobbing coming to a halt that had already lasted several seconds. Instead of continuing his cry, he looked down with a sad expression. “Is that so?”

Machise gasped softly in concern, pressing her hand against his chest as she patted his back again.

“Maybe, I dunno. There’s nothing for me to base this on, really.” He opened his eyes and raised his head, looking off to the side again. “Buuut, if I had evidence of her abduction, there could be some legs for this theory after all.” He looked back at his mentor. “Mr. Yokoshima, did you see anything suspicious in Muchise’s room when you went up there?”

Yokoshima sniffled some, sitting upright as he wiped away the tears from his right eye. “Not really. I saw her phone on the bed and a shirt on the floor, but I was too distressed to notice anything else.”

“I see. Then may _I_ go up and take a look?”

Yokoshima blinked once, gasping softly at Naokuu’s request. Machise, on the other hand…

“Absolutely _not_!” she exclaimed, moving her hands back from Yokoshima and burying them in her lap as she leaned in towards Naokuu as he remained as stationary and serious as before. “You _do_ realize you’re asking to go into my daughter’s room, don’t you?”

“It’s a crime scene, Mrs. Yokoshima. And _because_ it’s a crime scene, I need to analyze it before doing anything else.”

“But–”

“Naokuu’s right, dear,” Yokoshima said as he grabbed Machise’s shoulder gently in an attempt to calm her. “Besides, I _know_ him, he won’t do anything weird.” He turned back to the young man. “So yes, Naokuu, you may go up there.”

“Thank you, sir,” Naokuu replied with a nod, smiling in confidence. “Once I’m done up there, figuring out her kidnapper should come real easy.”

“That’s what I like to hear.” Yokoshima nodded, smiling back. Machise joined him not a second later, now fully calmed from her earlier offense, grunting softly behind her smiling lips.

********

“I’m tellin’ ya, man, that cutie from 3-C has got the hots for me! Winkin’ and blushin’ at me every day like we’re secret lovers…”

“She does that with _everyone_ , you dumbass. You’re just _askin’_ for a rejection if you take this seriously.”

In one of the third-story hallways, just a few feet away from the entrance to the art club’s room – its protruding sign bearing the consistent text of 美術部 – two delinquents stood with their backs to the line of windows, this set unbroken, as they conversed with one another. The first to speak was rather lanky for his average height, with brown hair an inch or two off his shoulders whose bangs hung over his bright red-orange headband. His school jacket was unbuttoned to reveal a grey T-shirt with the kanji for “passion”, 情熱, running vertically down its front underneath, while a kendo sword stuck out through one of his pants loops. He looked up and blushed as he fawned over the girl he spoke of, while his buddy looked on, unimpressed. His hair was a darker brown, short-cut and neatly combed with bangs swept to the side. He too wore the fiery headband his friend wore, though a standard white undershirt laid under his unbuttoned jacket, and he wore no weapons either. In truth, they appeared more like wannabes than actual delinquents. They were the only ones in the hallway at the moment, though another started walking up from afar.

At his friend’s remark, the first delinquent perked up with a grunt and turned to the second, appearing rather ticked off as his hands dug into his pockets. “Oh yeah? ‘Cause it sounds ta me like _you’re_ askin’ for an ass-kickin’, spewin’ out that crap to the likes of _me_!”

“Uh, excuse me, guys?”

“Huh?” At the interjection, the first delinquent stopped and looked up with a squinted glance.

The other looked back and grunted softly. “Hm. What’s up, Tadaki?”

Having got the two’s attention, Ugo slightly bowed in greeting, his hands brought together in front of himself. “I don’t mean to interrupt your conversation or anything, but I was wondering if I could ask you a couple questions.” He closed his eyes and smiled sincerely.

While Ugo got a start on his task, Sento got up to the same on his end. Instead of the hallways outside the club rooms, though, he started out on the main stairwell next to the entrance. He found a trio of tough-looking delinquents loitering around on the landing between the second and third floors, two squatting and the other sitting down. The center squatter, dressed in a T-shirt with a flame pattern under his open school jacket, had his hair done up in rigid spikes, a lip ring, and a bug-eyed expression. The other squatter, backed up against the wall to the first’s right, holding a kendo sword in his right hand whose slats rested on his corresponding shoulder, had his hair dyed bright yellow and done up in a pompadour, the same dye job applying to his eyebrows. He wore a simple white tee under his school jacket, a pair of geta on his feet as opposed to uwabaki or even regular shoes, and a headband with the phrase 鬼飯組, or “Team Onimeshi”, written across it in calligraphy ink. The sitter of the group, his right leg outstretched and his left bent at the knee, had long black hair running down his shoulders, his bangs parted to show off his forehead, a natural squinty glare, and a pouty expression bearing an air of suppressed animosity. His dress was normal, save for his own pair of geta. All three looked up at Sento, who stood on the steps leading up, none too pleased with his intrusion.

“Look, I know the word in the hall is that Muchise – the jewel of 3-B, as you call her – was kidnapped by the yakuza, no doubting _that_ ,” Sento explained smoothly, lowering his head and closing his eyes as he brought his fingers to his forehead. “But this buddy of mine thinks otherwise, claiming someone _else_ stole her away. And he claims that person is a student here at this school!” He brought his hand down and looked up, his dramatic delivery slowly inching towards melo. “Can you _believe_ his nerve?” Even if they could, the delinquents were no more impressed. “Even so, I thought I’d humor him and see if his claims hold any water. So I ask you…” He stretched out his right hand, pointing his index and middle fingers out as he closed one eye. “Who do _you_ gentlemen think is behind this unthinkable crime, if not the yakuza?”

********

“You’re askin’ if one of _us_ took her?”

“More or less, yes.”

Ugo had moved on to asking another delinquent, hanging out behind the corner turn of a hallway where a crowd had gathered for yet another between-periods brawl. The delinquent in question was a tall man with a thin physique, though built up enough to show that he could hold his own in a fight. A red bandana wrapped around his head, concealing what hair he had if any, and his uniform was for the most part worn properly with the exception of his jacket’s frayed cuffs. As the crowd around the corner cheered on the punctuated sounds of punches landing against skin, the delinquent spoke with Ugo, his eyes closed and arms crossed.

“Hm. There’s no way we would’ve. Us delinquents aren’t exactly the kidnapping type. And if we _were_ , there’d have been a _lot_ more commotion about it. Nothin’ a vague rumor could even _hope_ of producing.”

“I see…” Ugo nodded in understanding. As he did, the cheering stopped as one of the fighting delinquents around the corner was thrown against the wall, groaning on impact before sliding down to the floor.

********

“You gotta understand, a girl like Muchise’s much too _fine_ to be an object worthy of stealin’. Anyone like _that_ has gotta be _wooed_!”

Sento’s own talks, the first of which he avoided injury from, took him to one of the lesser-quality classrooms in Sadameicho. A desk in the back row etched and scribbled with multiple derogatory and threatening phrases atop one another, a resounding “Die!” – 死ね! – in red spray paint obscuring the majority as the most recent, proved as much. But the short-haired student staring down at the desk wasn’t who Sento had met with. Instead, it was a tougher-looking delinquent with tanned skin, a shaved head, and his jacket sleeves rolled up to the elbows that he stood and listened to. The delinquent held out his hand for emphasis as he continued on.

“But there’s not much you can do to her with her dad bein’ some kinda overprotective supercop. We’d be _toast_ , no matter _what_ we did!”

“Uhhhhhh-huh.” Sento simply nodded as he took in the claim. As he did, the student looking over his desk let out a frustrated scream as he picked it up and chucked it out the window, shattering the glass upon impact.

********

“The only ones who’ve got an eye for that Yokoshima girl wouldn’t have _thought_ of stealing her away.”

Now Ugo was on the stairwell leading up to the roof, sitting next to a delinquent at the top of the dimly lit steps. A weary-looking man in his late teens with short and messy black hair and noticeable stubble above his upper lip and around his chin. He held a thin cigarette in his mouth, longer and cruder than normal ones, slowly burning from the end.

“The normies are too polite and morally upright for it, while the tough guys are too distracted by all the fights poppin’ up in these halls. Even going up and confessing to her’s an afterthought to them, if not something lower.”

As he listened to the loner who took the time to speak with him, Ugo appeared weary, merely tilting his head and groaning under his breath as he got another similar answer.

********

Finally, Sento came up to the school roof, standing before who appeared to be one of Sadameicho’s most intimidating delinquents. Over 6 feet tall, muscular enough that his uniform, unbuttoned with a T-shirt underneath, conformed to his body, and with full facial hair that added to the wavy nature of the wavy black mess atop his head. Leaning against the chain-link fence surrounding the roof, he looked down at Sento, not having to move a muscle to make the young wannabe gulp in intimidation. Only the wind made part of him move, and even then, it was just his hair. Soon, the wind died down, and only then did he move. He raised his eyebrow and frowned some in curiosity.

“A girl… got kidnapped?”

All Sento could do was hang his head down and sigh.

********

“No luck, huh?” Ugo asked Sento as he held open the door for him.

“No luck at _all_.” Sento stepped out of the sun-soaked roof and into the cool school building, his hands in his pockets. “You wouldn’t _believe_ how many different responses they gave, and not _one_ of them was helpful in the slightest!”

“Hmm. So what should we tell Shin?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We tell him the cold, hard truth, that’s what.”

With that, the two walked off, the door swinging shut behind them.

********

Muchise’s bedroom door, like the rest of the doors on the second floor of her family’s abode, was wooden, though hers was the only one with a sign attached to the outside. It was a thin sign, hung from a small nail a few inches above by the middle portion of a supportive piece of string. Two cutely-drawn mice hung around the border of the sign, one holding a generic hunk of cheese while the other had its front paws against the sign, looking up. In the middle, drawn in a girly font, was what accounted for the greeting in. 六知世の部屋. Muchise’s Room. And unlike the night she vanished, the door was closed shut.

Standing on the other side of the door, inside the bedroom itself, was Naokuu. Just a few steps away from the entrance, he had his head turned to the right, eyeing the majority of the space.

“So this is Muchise’s room.”

The bed had a solid wooden headboard with a white pillow and rose pink sheets, and to its left was a half-sized two-drawer dresser acting as a nightstand, with a tissue box and a digital alarm, reading 11:42. There was more to it than just the nightstand, though. A desk with a chair and a three-drawer storage bin tucked into it, a desk lamp and jar of writing utensils on the left side and a short bin of upright textbooks and multiple papers before it on the right. A bookshelf with even more texts, these ones for leisure, as well as CDs, DVDs and Blu-Rays. Another desk with a mirror and a stool, a bag and bottles of make-up supplies strewn about. A wicker wastebasket between the make-up desk and a dark brown beanbag couch shaped more like the latter than the former. Two posters: one above the desk of a dolphin emerging from the sea against a lunar backdrop colored in a retro aesthetic, and another above the wastebasket of two black silhouettes with white sunglasses – one facing forward and the other looking to the right – standing before a pink sunset with the phrase “LO-FI KINGS” plastered across their legs. A curious character for the room, to be sure.

“Not _entirely_ what I expected from a teenage girl.” With an amused grunt and a brief pause, he turned his head slightly as he begun his surveillance. “Let’s see here…”

Naokuu looked down at the corner of the bed, where Muchise’s smartphone sat just as Yokoshima said, facing up with a blinking red light.

“Piece of evidence number one: the phone on the bed. Neatly set down, unmoved, and running low on battery.”

His head turned a little more as he now looked directly down at the floor below him, as well was what laid on top of it.

“Piece of evidence number two: the shirt on the floor. _Shirts_ , rather. A pink tanktop, and a white T-shirt with a heart symbol. Looks like it was dropped.”

He then turned to the left, tilting his head slightly upward at his next object of attention.

“And then there’s the bonus piece: her dresser drawers. Bottom drawer pulled out, top shirt removed, pair of socks missing.”

The exposed shirt following the tee’s removal was now a light pink T-shirt with a white bedsheet ghost on it.

“Welp, I guess that confirms it,” Naokuu said as he turned back, looking forward in confidence. “This room is the last place Muchise Yokoshima was before she disappeared.”

After his announcement to himself, the twentysomething remained standing and still for the next several seconds, as if in thought. Time passed, and then, Naokuu’s expression changed. His stare narrowed, and his indifferent frown morphed into a distrustful scowl.

“Something ain’t right… This room. It’s way too orderly to be a standard crime scene. If she was abducted, there should be signs of a struggle. Messy sheets, thrown objects, _some_ sort of visible damage. Even a _staged_ kidnapping would have made _that_ much of an effort. Instead, nothing. It’s like she just vanished without a trace,” Naokuu surmised as he looked down at the floor.

His observations were in no way off the mark. Everything was in the same place it was, at least from easy observation. The 3-drawer dresser with the open bottom wasn’t jerked around any, the bed was neatly made with nary a wrinkle, and the shirts on the ground laid as if they were dropped to the ground and remained unmoved since. There wasn’t even a single indentation in the carpet, neither furniture nor footprint, to indicate presence.

“And the entry points…” Naokuu looked forward at the window looking out of the bedroom. “The door behind me, and the window in front of me. Those are the only two possible points they could’ve come in. And yet…” His stare narrowed further, bordering on squinting as he stared straight forward in silence for the next few seconds. “It _can’t_ be…”

Another few seconds of silence passed before Naokuu made any move. He stepped forward across the carpeted floor in the generic house slippers he wore, heading straight for the window. Once he reached the first of the two entry points, he planted his hands on the wall to either side, staring down at the window itself with open eyes. He looked at one edge of the window, and then at the other, both with analysis in mind.

“Nothing on this side… or _this_ side...” He then squatted down, placing his hand on the carpet by the wall and moving it around. He could only feel the soft collections of fibers. “No signs of damage down _here_ , either. If they didn’t come through _here_ , then…” As he trailed off, he looked behind at the door.

He went there next, opening the door and taking one step forward as he looked down at the doorknob latch and its receptacle. Both were undamaged, the same said for the wood and doorframe surrounding them.

“ _Still_ no damage!” He quietly exclaimed, growling under his breath as he opened the door further and looked out into the house beyond. “Then there’s only _one_ point left.”

He went downstairs to the foyer, approaching the front door and unlocking it. He opened it just as he did with Muchise’s door, but he stepped outside completely, turning around to face the ajar entrance. Its doorknob and latch were untouched also, with no damage to the door and frame beyond either.

“This one, too! It’s in perfect working order!” He returned inside the house, closing the door behind him.

As he did, Yokoshima walked into the foyer from the living room, looking over at Naokuu as he did. “How’s it coming, Naokuu? Did you find any more evidence?”

“Mr. Yokoshima, your house wasn’t damaged any when you came back that night, was it?”

“Hn?” Yokoshima stopped in his tracks, confused by Naokuu’s query. “No, it wasn’t. At least, not that _I_ could tell.”

“Just as I thought…”

Yokoshima gasped softly.

“This changes _everything_!” Naokuu said as he looked up.

“W-What changes everything? Did you figure out who kidnapped Muchise or not?”

“Not _exactly_ , but it should prove a better starting point than my initial theory.” Naokuu turned to face Yokoshima, exuding quiet confidence.

Yokoshima gulped, a bead of sweat running down the side of his head. “And what’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“What it _means_ , Mr. Yokoshima, is that whoever kidnapped Muchise…” His stare narrowed once more. “It sure as hell _wasn’t_ the yakuza.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Shio koji is a mixture of malted rice, salt and water, used as a seasoning for many Japanese foods.  
> 2\. “Tsukumono” literally translates to “pickled vegetables”.  
> 3\. Torchiere lights are lights that shine upwards.  
> 4\. The Superintendent General is the position given to the head of the Metropolitan Police Force.  
> 5\. Geta are Japanese wooden sandals with an elevated base like a platform shoe.


	3. Act 2

“No way! What the hell are you guys even _saying_? You’re telling me they _didn’t_ take her?”

“Afraid so,” Ugo replied, glancing off to the side.

Sento nodded in agreement. “That theory of yours was a total bust, no two ways about it.”

It was the end of the lunch period at Sadameicho High, and Shin was standing at the door heading out of class 3-A from the front half. Standing across him in the hallway were Sento and Ugo, who proved not to be an obstacle for any of the students passing behind them. As a student with an unbuttoned jacket moved between them and the wall with no problem, and a couple prepared to sidestep them slightly, the two continued on with their report to Shin.

“Believe us, we tried our _hardest_ to get a lead on her.”

“Mm-hmm,” Sento nodded again. “We talked to both the bigshots _and_ the wannabes, and neither one of ‘em pointed a single finger!”

“Basically, they were either too oblivious to what happened outside of their personal business, or they were too absorbed with that business to even consider anything else.”

“And that speaks nothing of how _obvious_ they would’ve made it if they _did_ do it.”

“Sorry about all this, Kizuka,” Ugo apologized with a brief bow. “I know you really wanna find her, so don’t give up hope just because of us.”

“It’s fine,” Shin replied. “If anything, this is just a minor setback. I should’ve known the delinquents here weren’t behind it; they lack the finesse to pull off something so subtle and non-violent. Which means…” After a brief pause, he opened his eyes, looking up with renewed determination. “The culprit’s _gotta_ be female, no question.”

Ugo backed up in legitimate surprise at Shin’s conclusion. “Wait, you mean a girl? At this school?”

“Ohhhhhhh, no, just _forget_ it!” Sento raised his head and exclaimed cockily, burying his hands in his pockets as he looked straight at Shin, who stared back blankly. “Pestering the biggest badasses in school is _one_ thing, but I’m _not_ gonna have the entire female student body on my ass ‘cause of _your_ desperate search for answers you’re never gonna _get_!”

“Who said I was gonna have _you_ ask them?”

“Huh?” Sento verbally stopped in his tracks as he processed Shin’s request, blinking in surprise. Ugo looked shocked too, even moreso now at his peer’s blunt response.

“If anyone asks where I went, tell them I took a half day,” Shin told his two acquaintances as he walked past them, cutting in between them, and turning right into the hallway. Each step he took was with the same confident air he summoned in his change of suspect, and while it wasn’t nearly enough to catch the eye of any other passersby, it certainly caught Sento and Ugo’s attention. The two turned and looked back at Shin as he walked off, reacting in their own individual ways.

“Kizuka…” Ugo was quietly stunned, his mouth partially open in lingering astonishment.

As for Sento, he looked on with half-lidded eyes and a pout, complete with a huff of muted frustration. “When did _he_ get so cool?” he muttered sarcastically.

********

“So that’s how things stand at this point.”

“I see.” Yokoshima closed his eyes and lowered his head in an understanding nod. “That’s reconcerting, to say the least.”

Naokuu and the Yokoshimas were once more in the living room, sitting in the same spots they were before. The former’s hands were once more resting on his knees, palms facing up with the fingers only barely intertwined to the first knuckle. A plastic bottle of unsweetened green tea bearing the brand name “お～お茶”, or “O-ocha”, sat on the table before him, a generic coaster catching the condensation running down the sides. Yokoshima and Machise, on the other hand, had no drinks on them.

“Wait just a minute…” Machise glanced over at her husband before looking back at Naokuu. “How do you _know_ the yakuza didn’t kidnap our daughter? Was there any _proof_ up there?”

“Not physically, no, and _that’s_ the problem.” Naokuu opened his eyes and held up his right hand, his index raised and pointing up. “You see, the yakuza aren’t exactly known for being subtle, especially when sending a message. If they wanted to challenge Detective Yokoshima’s authority, they’d have done more than take Muchise. They’d break windows, bust down doors, completely _ransack_ the place…”

As Naokuu listed off those potential acts of vandalism, Yokoshima winced at the thought of his house being destroyed in those ways, while Machise simply wore an understanding frown.

Naokuu tilted his hand back some, opening it up as his palm once more faced the ceiling. “So doesn’t the fact that you two returned to an undamaged house seem kind of _odd_?”

Machise grunted softly, lowering her head a little more. “I guess it _does_.”

Yokoshima nodded in agreement. “And even if they _were_ subtle, this is too far from the rest to be a serial kidnapping.”

“Thus ruling them out entirely,” Naokuu replied, grinning as he pointed his index at Yokoshima. “There you have it. With the yakuza and the “personal attack towards you” M.O. out of the running, that means Muchise was kidnapped for a different reason entirely.” He reached out and grabbed the green tea bottle, placing his left hand on the cap, ready to twist it off. “Which leads to my new theory.” Twist, snap. The cap came undone, and Naokuu twisted it off, setting it to the side as he continued. “Her abduction was a personal matter, the result of a grudge concerning her and her alone.” He brought the bottle to his lips and drank.

“A grudge?” Yokoshima turned to his wife. “I didn’t think Muchise even _had_ any enemies.”

Machise grunted under her breath, looking down solemnly. “Well she _has_ been rather secretive these past couple of years…”

Yokoshima turned back to Naokuu. “Plausibility aside, how are you gonna prove _this_ theory’s the right one, Naokuu?”

“By pinning down potential suspects, for starters,” Naokuu said, sighing in refreshment and putting down his bottle before responding. “But to do _that_ , I’d need her phone, her laptop, anything with access to her social media account. Assuming she _has_ one, of course.”

Machise perked up at Naokuu’s subtle request, closing her eyes in frustration as one of them twitched. “She _does_ , but there’s no way I’m letting you on it! Going into my daughter’s room is _one_ thing, but her personal belongings? That’s-!”

Yokoshima put his hand on his wife’s shoulder, stopping her in her tracks and putting her on the immediate path to calming down. As she did, he stood up and responded to Naokuu. “If that’s what it takes, you have my permission to use whatever you need.”

“Really? Thank you, sir,” Naokuu replied with a nod. “Her phone should do the job, then.”

“Sure, but keep in mind it’ll take a few hours to charge. I hope you don’t mind waiting.”

“It’s fine, I’ve waited longer for more important.” Naokuu looked up at Yokoshima walked off, grinning again, this time in anticipation.

********

“Hm? You’re asking if _we_ had anything to do with her disappearance?”

“Kinda. More like, if any of you could’ve reasonably done it, uh, in a hypothetical sense.”

Shin, meanwhile, had begun his own questioning about Muchise’s kidnapping. One of the several he started with was a female classmate in one of the nicer classrooms that wasn’t 3-A. She was a few inches shorter than the student average, had short light brown hair done up in a high ponytail and wore pink lipstick, her school blazer unbuttoned. She sat in her seat with her hands behind her head, replying to Shin as her other classmates sat and stood and talked amongst themselves in the background.

“Sorry, but you’re outta luck here,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders and tilting her head towards the ceiling. She opened one eye and glanced at Shin as she continued. “Everyone on girls’ track had nothing but admiration for Muchise, not even a shred of jealousy. Whoever kidnapped her, it wasn’t any of _us_.”

“I see, thank you,” Shin replied with a nod.

********

“Another girl?”

The next girls Shin talked to were the two third-years chatting by the main stairwell the other day. Just like then, they were on the first floor by that same stairwell, and judging from the almost-barren halls, they appeared to be skipping class like some of the delinquents.

The brown-haired girl looked off to the side with a blush, her hand up to her face to emphasize her bashful reply. “I dunno… Everyone here’s just so _nice_ to Miss Yokoshima, I can’t think of _any_ girl who’d want to do such a thing to her…”

The maroon-haired girl, meanwhile, glanced at her companion as she spoke, her arms crossed in frustration. She then turned to Shin, her frown widening in annoyance. “Forget about who did it, you’ve got a lotta nerve pinning the blame for this on one of _us_. You should know better than to just assume stuff like that, _boy_.”

“So that’s a no for _both_ of you, then…” Shin nervously chuckled, closing his eyes as a bead of sweat ran down the side of his head.

********

“Who took her, you ask?”

After that, Shin went up to Class 3-C during another period break, and proceeded to talk with one of the female students in the doorway close to the front of the room. The girl, who had dark brown hair done up in pigtails and brown eyes. She leaned against the doorframe and looked at Shin with a pleased smirk.

“Oh, I wouldn’t know _anything_ about that. But I’m happy to answer any _other_ questions you might have~.” She giggled softly as she winked at Shin.

Shin looked at her, unamused, his eyes practically horizontal lines. “Never mind. I’m good.”

********

“Damn, it’s hopeless,” Shin bemoaned as he sat on the floor of the second-floor hallway, his back to the wall and his wrists resting atop his knees. “No matter _who_ I ask, I just can’t seem to get anywhere with this!”

Classes were over now, and the typical period for most club activities that followed had finished up too. The halls were for the most part empty, which gave Shin the excuse to sit down in the dimly lit portion where he did. The back classroom door next to him was open, allowing the orange early evening sky from the windows to shine through and provide further illumination. Even so, he remained out of the light, gazing up at the ceiling with closed eyes. That came to an end, though, as he opened his eyes and glanced down, sighing.

“I guess… I should quit while I’m ahead. For today, at least.” He pressed his right hand against his knee as he started to stand up, but as he did…

“I wouldn’t go saying that if I were you.”

“Hm?”

Shin paused for a moment, blinking at the feminine voice coming from the classroom. It belonged to a student, dressed in the same uniform as all the others, the only one inside. She had bright lime green hair that went down to the lower small of her back, and cool red eyes accented by thick eyelashes, faint lavender eyeshadow and a mole just below the corner of her right. She also had standard black earrings piercing the upper portion, one for each ear, decently-sized C-cups, and a pink dust mask strapped onto her face, covering her nose and mouth She squatted down with her back to the doorframe, holding a grey dustpan in one hand and a matching mini-broom in the other. She swept up broken shards of glass from what was once one of the windows into the dustpan, softly moving the broom back and forth to get everything in.

“You and your buddies have been asking around about Muchise Yokoshima’s disappearance all day, haven’t you? That must take a lot of determination, doing that so nonchalantly.” As she spoke, Shin walked into the room and looked at the girl, who raised her head while still facing forward. “It’d be unlike you to just give up after going even _this_ far.”

“Yeah, it really _would_ ,” Shin agreed, nodding as he took a few steps into the classroom. He then came to a stop, blinking once. “Wait, how did you-?”

“Same as usual, I caught wind of it.”

“Oooof course.”

The girl stood up, letting go of the broom and dustpan as she started brushing herself off. “Really, you’d be surprised by how many people here _know_. You assuming _they’re_ one of the culprits behind this incident…” She glanced back at Shin, lowering the dust mask off her face and shooting him a grin. Her grin only grew wider as she turned to face Shin, her eyes closed but grinning with her. “Thanks to that, you’ve gained quite a bit of notoriety for yourself~!”

Shin’s reaction to her playful response was a strange mix of embarrassment, told by the blush across his cheeks, and flatness, conveyed by his glance to the side. “Yeahhh, I’m not really surprised by that.” With another blink, he glanced back at the female student. “But enough small talk. Do you have any idea who could’ve kidnapped her, Renge?”

“I _might_.”

“You _might_?”

Renge closed her eyes again and looked down, placing one hand on her hips. “Shin Kizuka, _surely_ by now you’ve heard all about me.” She opened her eyes and looked up, tilting back some for emphasis. “The gorgeous second-year info broker Renge Soroda, who knows more about what goes on at this school than the administration? Believe me, whatever I’ve got, it should help push you closer, even just a little.”

“Hey, whatever helps at this point,” Shin replied with a shrug.

“Of course, I can’t just tell it to you for free.” She looked out the doorway, pointing with her eyes. “ _And_ it’d be problematic to tell it to you _here_.”

“Yeah…” Shin said as he looked back in the same direction as Renge. “I can imagine.”

In the hall just outside the classroom, leaning against the window-covered walls lining the one side, were the two girls Shin “interrogated” earlier. The taller maroon-haired girl whispered into her brown-haired companion’s ear, and while he couldn’t hear it, Shin could easily tell she wasn’t whispering anything good. The glare she gave him after her softly-spoken gossip didn’t help matters, nor did the other girl blushing as if she heard something embarrassing, looking down and putting her hand to her mouth.

Shin turned back, non-reactive to the whole scene behind him. “So, what’s the place and what’s your price?”

“We’ll meet at the Kanda River crossing a ways south of Yodobashi Bridge at 8 tonight. And my price is…” She raised her free hand and pointed up with it. “A freshly baked sweet bun with strawberry crème filling.”

“That’s an awfully specific request.”

“Sorry, Shin, but them’s the breaks,” Renge responded, closing her eyes once more.

“Hey, I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it,” Shin replied with a brief smile. “I’ll be there with your bun, don’t you worry.”

“Great! The crossing’s hardly ever used, so I should be easy to spot. But I’ll wear _this_ anyways, just in case~.” Renge lifted up her dust mask by the strings on either side, her outstretched indexes pushing against them and pointing up with her thumbs. After shooting Shin a flirty grin with her pink lips, she pulled the mask back onto her face.

“Sounds good. I’ll see you then.” Shin nodded to Renge before turning around, heading for the open door.

Renge grunted softly as she nodded back, her voice echoing inside her respirator. “See you tonight.”

Shin prepared to leave the classroom behind him, exit into the hallway and return home. But before he could, he stopped just as he stepped outside the doorframe.

“One last thing.”

“Hm?” Renge had squatted back down, prepared to resume cleaning up with her hands on the mini-broom and dustpan. She stopped as well, looking back at Shin just as he did her. “What is it?”

Shin was silent for the few seconds following, but spoke before long. “This information you have. It _will_ help me get Muchise back, won’t it?”

“Oh, I’m sure it will! If it’ll help you get closer to her kidnapper, it’ll help you get closer to _her_ too.” Shin couldn’t help but smile at Renge’s reassurance, his worries fading in that moment. “Besides, if _I’ve_ got it, it _has_ to be good. They don’t call me ‘Renge the Resourceful’ for nothing, after all.” She giggled softly, once again smiling with closed eyes.

“Right...” Shin nodded, still smiling but with secondhand embarrassment. “Though I don’t think that’s what ‘resourceful’ means,” he quietly said to himself as he turned around and slid the classroom door shut, leaving Renge to her privacy.

********

“Here it is, fully charged.”

Muchise’s smartphone sat in Yokoshima’s hand as he held it out to Naokuu, its sticker-decorated pink body facing up. The two stood in the former’s foyer, between the front door and the stairs.

“Be sure to return it tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure thing,” Naokuu replied as he took the phone and looked down at it. “This should _really_ help the case along.”

“I’d expect it to. Muchise’s been rather attached to that thing lately, so anything pointing towards a suspect should be on there.”

“In that case, I’ll scour it top to bottom for whatever hints I can.” Naokuu lowered his hand and bowed to Yokoshima. “Again, thank you for all your help, sir. Be sure to give Machise my thanks for her cooperation as well. That and the food.”

“Certainly, Naokuu.” Yokoshima closed his eyes and smiled. “We’d be happy to have you again. …Oh!” he suddenly exclaimed, as if he forgot something. “If you’d like, I could prepare some food for you to take home for yourself! You know, so you’ve got something to nourish yourself with besides takeout.”

Naokuu opened one of his eyes and looked up at Yokoshima as he spoke. Blinking once, he smiled, chuckling softly under his breath. “I’d love some, Mr. Yokoshima. Thank you very much.”

Yokoshima smiled back again. “Anytime, Naokuu.”

With that farewell, Naokuu’s visit to the Yokoshima residence was complete. The minutes passed by fast enough such that it felt more like mere seconds when he was back on the road. Muchise’s phone sat on the passenger side, body-up and solitary atop a blue-lidded Tupperware container. Naokuu glanced down at it while his Civic was stopped at a red light, at the intersection of Yamate Street and Honan Street in Shibuya, smiling as he did. As he glanced, the smile appeared as one of secondhand compassion, the phone being one of the last things his mentor’s daughter had on her before she vanished. But when he glanced back to the road, with a simple lowering of his eyebrows, it became one of determination, whose impetus was obvious enough that he needed not to think about it. The light turned green and, after the black Toyota Camry heading up the rightmost middle through lane advanced past the stop line and crosswalk, his Civic followed suit, heading south as the orange evening sky above started fading to dark blue.

********

“Are you sure he can do it?”

“Of course he can. Don’t tell me you’re doubting him already, honey.”

“I’m _not_ , it’s just…” Machise glanced off to the side as she held one of two cylindrical cups of tea in her hands. “He doesn’t have a whole lot to work with. All he has are hunches and vague clues, and I don’t think that’s enough.” She sighed as she looked down with closed eyes. “At this rate, we might _never_ see her again…” She brought the cup to her lips and drank slowly.

“True, he doesn’t have _much_ , but for what it’s worth, he has resolve. He won’t stop looking, no matter _how_ many dead-ends he runs into. Whatever happens, I have faith he’ll pull through.”

Though he was as calm as his wife was, the two sitting across from one another on the living room couches, Yokoshima didn’t appear as worrisome as before. He was content now, softly smiling as he too sipped on the tea Machise brewed for them. He sighed as he set his cup down, standing up with a brief grunt.

“Besides, I’m just glad there are people out there who care enough about Muchise to actually _do_ something.”

“Yeah, about that…” Machise set down her cup but refrained from standing, looking up at her husband instead. “You don’t think he was serious last night, do you? Making such a reckless promise like he did…”

“He _looked_ pretty serious to me, so he’s probably making good on it as we speak. Not to mention he ruled out the yakuza as suspects before Naokuu even confirmed it, so it’s not like he’s putting himself in any real danger doing this.”

“If you say so, dear.” Machise reluctantly nodded as she took another sip.

Yokoshima lowered his head, the light coming through the lampshade closest to his couch reflecting off his glasses. “Right now, it’s a matter of who makes more headway first. Honestly, I’m content either way, whether Naokuu’s the first one there…” He raised his head, smiling slightly bigger. “...or if Shin makes it instead.”

********

“Achoo!”

Shin sneezed just as he finished crossing one of the several streets passing over the Kanda River at the Nakano-Shinjuku border. The footpath he headed towards was bordered by ceramic tile-coated apartment buildings and bare trees on the left and the river itself on the right, paved with asphalt painted red and seemingly blocked from entry by three metal blockades – two in front and one behind – that took the shape of upside-down Us. Evening was at its end now, the orange tint to the sky completely phased away in favor of the purple tones of dusk. Streetlights lit up the area from the sidelines, not directly in Shin’s path, so he had some idea of where he was headed.

Shin grunted as he raised his left arm, covered by his black zip-up hoodie, and rubbed it against his face in near-immediate reaction to his sudden sneeze. “Damn, it’s too late in the season for me to be catching a cold. Seriously…” He lowered his arm once done and took a deep breath, looking back. “Not that it matters now, anyways. I'd better get going. Don't wanna keep her waiting _too_ long…” He looked back and resumed walking, stepping onto the path and between the first two metal structures. Once he maneuvered past the third, he was well on his way to his final destination: the first Kanda River crossing south of Yodobashi. The place where he and Renge were to meet.

The bridge was a simple structure, crossing the narrow and shallow river without needing anything more than what already supported the asphalt one-way street, used more often by pedestrians than by vehicles. The sidewalks on either side of the river were asphalt, painted the same rust color as the path leading to them, with short rectangular markers spaced six feet apart near the nearly-flat curb and a green railing looking out over the thin and shallow river. The bars below the railing were green on top and white on bottom, alternating in height such that a wave pattern formed across its length.

Leaning against the railing facing north was Renge, her hands nestled in the pockets of her navy blue hoodie as her left leg, dressed in black leggings and a tan boot with a short heel, remained slightly raised off the ground. Her eyes were closed and her hood was up, the foremost strands of her lime hair showing on either side. As promised, she was wearing the same pink dust mask she donned earlier that day. She was calm, waiting for her acquaintance to arrive. The faint sound of footsteps came close, and as they came to a stop, she opened her eyes and glanced to the right.

“About time.”

Shin sighed softly, standing just a foot or two away from Renge to her right. He wasn’t exasperated, nor was he anxious. His breaths were calm, a simple catching of breath.

“You _do_ realize you’re late, right?”

“Please, like I _needed_ to be meticulous. That and it was pretty hard to find a place that sold your strawberry sweet bun, so there’s a good reason I’m late.” As he spoke, Shin lifted up the shopping bag he brought with them and rummaged around inside it, pulling out a spherical object wrapped in white, opaque wax paper. “Here you go, by the way.”

“Hn. Thanks,” Renge replied as she took the paper-wrapped bun with her right hand while pulling down her mask with her left. She undid one end of the paper and pulled it back to reveal half of the bun, brown and shiny with a slight pinkish tint to the lighter portions near the bottom. She opened her mouth wide and moved the bun into her mouth, letting it wrap around the exposed end for a moment before slowly biting into it. She pulled her hand back after the bite, a speck of strawberry crème filling remaining on the side of her mouth as she chewed softly with a few quiet, involuntary grunts.

Shin, meanwhile, lowered his arm and looked at Renge with impatience. “Okay, I’m here and I got you your bun. So are you gonna tell me who took Muchise or not?”

Renge swallowed the first consumed portion of the bun, sighing in bliss as she stepped forward and faced Shin, her left hand hanging by her side. “Right, I _was_ gonna tell you that, wasn’t I?” She giggled some at her joking comment, facing Shin head-on. “Now then, the person behind your girl-friend’s mysterious disappearance…”

Shin bent his knees some, waiting with bated breath for what Renge would say next. He softly sighed through his teeth, his anticipation for answers showing even there.

Seconds passed, and once they were up, Renge merely chuckled, tilting her head back as she grinned wide. “I’ve got nothing, sorry.”

“What!?” Shin gasped, his brow furrowing with frustration and disbelief.

********

“You gotta be kiddin’ me…” Naokuu sighed.

He had returned to his apartment safe and sound, still dressed in the same clothes he wore all day, and settled down to begin thumbing through Muchise’s phone, the far corner of the room lit up by a simple lamp. He held the mobile device in his right hand, thumb hovering a few inches off the screen as he looked down at what was presently onscreen. A social media website with a blue banner at the top, which displayed the white square bearing a backwards lowercase F that served at its logo. The profile below bore Muchise’s name – 横島六知世 – and a nicely taken image of her with longer hair and a more youthful face, like it was done two years ago. Everything below that point was more or less a blank slate, a dialog box for any new posts displayed on the right but with no further posts going down.

“A popular and beloved girl like her, and she barely even used her own Facebook account?” Naokuu sighed again, closing his eyes. “Well I can’t blame her for avoiding social media like the plague, but damn, this is making things harder than they need to be. Guess I’ll have to look through her text inbox, then. Damn thing’s a treasure trove compared to the frickin’ _Internet_ …”

Naokuu’s thumb came back down onto the phone as he moved off the Internet app and over to Muchise’s inbox, containing the various archived conversations between her and her friends. An act he did silently, by his lonesome in the dimly lit living space of his apartment.

********

“You can’t be serious, Renge!” Shin exclaimed as he stepped forward, holding up his hands to chest-level to emphasize his verbal emotions. “How can you _not_ know who took Muchise? I thought it was your job to _know_ this sort of thing!”

“It _is_ ,” Renge nodded, her grin faded. “But this incident’s considerably recent, and there wasn’t much buzz about it to begin with, even yesterday after it happened. I’m afraid her kidnapper’s actual identity is still a mystery, even to me.”

“You _liar_!” Shin pointed at Renge, every finger but his index clenching in growing anger. “You _said_ you had something that could help me! Like _hell_ you’ve got nothing, not even a single _hint_!”

“Now, now, I never said _that_.” Renge closed her eyes as her grin returned. “What you asked me just now was who took her, and ‘nothing’ was my answer.” She opened her eyes and looked right at Shin’s face. “But what you asked me back at school, the question I agreed to answer _here_ , was if I had any _idea_ who took her.”

Shin slowly lowered his hand, speechless with surprise at Renge’s reply. Not for long, though. “So… what you’ve got’s a _theory_ , then.”

“Damn straight. And it’s a pretty _good_ theory at that.” She brought her bun back up to her mouth and took another bite.

********

Naokuu sighed again. “Nothing here either… Dammit!” His left eye twitched in annoyance as he kept looking down at the phone. “Couldn’t she have just dropped any hints to her friends like a _normal_ teenager?” He grunted softly, moving his hand back as he pressed the back button on the phone, scrolling up from the bottom. “At least the short ones are over and done with. All that’s left is to tackle the monster reigning at the top, so to speak.”

He finished scrolling, reaching the topmost entry in the log and pressing it with his thumb. Compared to the number of messages indicated on the far right of most entries, ranging from 2 or 3 to somewhere around 20, this top one contained 500+ individual texts. The name this conversation belonged to? 木塚心. Shin Kizuka.

********

“First, let me ask you this: why do you think Muchise was kidnapped? Rather, _who_ do you think is the driving force behind her kidnapping? Not the person responsible, but the person her disappearance was meant to affect.”

“Um, well… Muchise, obviously. I mean, _she_ was the one that was kidnapped here.”

“That’s what one would _think_.” Renge pointed at Shin with her free hand, holding up what remained of her bun. “But from what you’ve gathered, does Muchise herself seem all that plausible a driving force for her _own_ abduction?” She popped the last of the bun into her mouth, closing her eyes and moaning behind her shut lips as she savored the last morsel.

Shin looked down at the ground as Renge ate, before looking back up at her. “Not really. The guys at school aren’t that smitten with her, honestly, and the girls aren’t nearly jealous enough to do something so terrible.”

“Exactly,” Renge said as she stashed her right hand away in her hoodie pocket. “Muchise Yokoshima, the jewel of 3-B, the most popular girl at Sadameicho High. No one’s as coveted at our cesspool of a school as _she_ is. And yet, for all her admirers, both male and female, not _one_ could _possibly_ think of keeping her for themselves, not with _her_ in mind specifically.”

********

Naokuu scrolled up through the text exchange between Muchise and Shin, a whole archive’s worth of back-and-forth in lime green and pale grey. It was mostly innocuous exchanges, taking up no more than 10 characters of text. And yet he looked over each one in search of something, as casual as his expression was. He soon came to a stop as he reached one message in particular, his eyes widening in interest as he grunted softly all the same. “Hel-lo…”

The message in light grey, on the right side that belonged to Muchise’s texts, said…

心くんは、長い間に彼女らを大目に見ることはことは驚かす。

It amazes me how you’re able to tolerate them after all this time.

********

“Therefore, someone _else_ was on her kidnapper’s mind the moment they did the deed. Now, who do you think that ‘someone else’ could be?”

“Hmm, let’s see…” Shin raised his head and looked off to the side with slowly building dread, shifting in place as he stayed standing. “I’d think it would have to be _me_.”

“Correct!” Renge announced as if it were mere fact, pointing up at the sky with her outstretched index finger. “Muchise may have had several friends, and many more acquaintances, but _you_ , Shin, are the only one at Sadameicho she’s spent more time with than anyone else.” She lowered her arm, now pointing at Shin. “If not _her_ , then the driving force behind her kidnapping is _you_.”

“But _why_!?” Shin exclaimed, his eyes straining and body positioning itself in further dread, tinged with heavy worries. “ _Why_ would _I_ be the reason Muchise got kidnapped? Hell, _who’d_ even _care_ enough about me to use her _against_ me!?”

********

Naokuu’s scrolling up through the message log continued on, the texts he found getting more useful the older they got. One message read as follows:

彼女らが一緒にいると、そわそわ感じせずには居られない。

I just can’t help but feel nervous when they’re together.

He slid his thumb down across the screen, the log moving up before stopping at another.

我々は友達なので、彼女らはあたしを憎むと思いますか？

Do you think they hate me because we’re friends?

He kept scrolling as he read through, the text reflected in his red eyes, brightening slightly from their standard dull shade.

********

Renge chuckled softly. “Oh, Shin, the answer to that’s quite simple.”

“Then tell me! What’s the answer?” he asked with worry.

“Uh-uh~.” Renge brought her finger back and pointed it at her temple. “Just think about it for a second. Who at Sadameicho cares about you and knows about your friendship with Muchise, and would go through with kidnapping her not because of _her_ , but because of _you_?”

Shin simply inhaled and exhaled, calming himself slowly as Renge voiced her question. Once his breathing successfully shifted from ragged and exhausted to steady and silent, he looked down, shaking as he repeated part of it. “Who would go through with it… because of _me_ …?”

********

ええ...彼女らはあまりにも親密な「友人」だと思われます。

Ehhh… They seem awfully close to be just “friends”.

After reaching that message on his most recent scroll, Naokuu took notice of something above the grey word bubble, on the left containing Shin’s side of the conversation. It appeared to be the bottom portion of a picture; a thin strip containing what appeared to be a wooden desk and someone’s arm, clad in the sleeves of a school uniform. He softly grunted as he saw that thin strip of image, his thumb pressed against the screen as it slowly moved down, exposing more of the picture. It caught his gaze, and as soon as it was in full view, he smirked.

“Hn. Bingo.”

********

Shin gasped in shock and realization, the breath coming sharply and loudly as his eyes widened and irises shrank.

All Renge could do was smirk, her arms crossed. “Finally figured it out, huh?”

“No way…” Shin looked down at his hand, trying to process the revelation he had just come to. “You mean _they’re_ the ones…” He grunted as he raised his right arm, his hand balling into a fist as he pressed the bottom half of his palm against his forehead. “I didn’t even think to _consider_ them! I thought it’d be too _obvious_ to consider them!”

“Really?” Renge uncrossed her arms and shrugged. “Well, you know what they say, the most obvious answer is usually the right one.” She loosened up her shoulders, her hands returning to her hoodie pockets. “If _not_? Well, I don’t know what to tell you…”

Shin inhaled and exhaled slowly, catching his breath as he slowly lowered his hand. Once he was as calm as he could be under this circumstance, he looked straight ahead at Renge. “I’ve gotta go. Thank you for all your help, Renge.” He bowed to her before turning around dashing off the way he came.

“Anytime, Shin,” Renge replied, simply raising her right hand to Shin as he departed. She smiled softly, with greater genuity than her cheeky smirks, and spoke again all the same. “Hope things work out for you and Muchise.”

Running atop the red-tinged asphalt path running along the river’s west side, Shin had little time to say anything, once more inhaling and exhaling with each stride he took. His arms moved as he ran, the left coming forward with the right leg and vice versa, the forearms as level as he could make them in his present form. He simply focused on what was physically ahead of him, though his mind settled on something else lying ahead…

“ _I still can’t believe it… The timing was just too coincidental, and their involvement too dead a give-away… But now I’m certain. I’m certain_ they _did it. I’m_ certain _those five took Muchise from me!”_

********

The lamp in the corner of Naokuu’s living space remained lit after all the time he spent thumbing through Muchise’s phone. Though the glow of the LCD light was enough illumination for him, the dim glow of the table lamp resting on the wooden floor, dimmed further by the off-white bell shade, gave the room just the right amount of atmosphere to make him satisfied. And now, that satisfaction was increased. With his legs bent at the knee, his feet planted on the floor, and the smartphone in his hand, he grinned, his eyes laying on the fruits of his pursuit for a suspect.

“Heh. _Might_ be somewhat of a stretch, but…”

Filling up the flat-panel screen was the image he came across in Muchise’s inbox of conversations with Shin. The photo was on Shin sitting at his school desk, but as far as the detective was concerned, he was irrelevant. His eyes, instead, were on the other students surrounding Shin and his desk. The energetic girl with powder blue pigtails, standing behind Shin’s chair and glomping both from behind, much to the young man’s annoyance. The twin-tailed blonde standing at the corner of the desk, her arms crossed and her face bearing an aloof but well-meaning frown directed at Shin. The brown-haired and bespectacled girl in front of the desk, popping in from the corner of the screen and shooting the camera a peace sign. The near-emotionless girl with short lime-green hair, squatting to the side of Shin’s desk with her hands on the edge, looking at him with a blush of admiration. And the well-endowed, violet-haired beauty taking the selfie, one hand on the phone that took the picture while her other rested on one of Shin’s hands, winking and smiling sexily at the camera. His eyes were on those five girls: Utsugi, Yukisa, Shirei, Akari and Chikuru.

“…I think I just found my prime suspects.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. The pair of girls Shin speaks with are the same “Study Buddies” who cameoed in “The Kidnapped Friend”. http://fav.me/da5hnwk  
> 2\. Renge Soroda is based off of Lotus, one of Jam-Orbital’s original characters he uses in his artwork. The dust mask she wears is a reference to the same one she’s occasionally seen wearing in her images in his “Jamsels in Distress” image packs. Additionally, “Renge” is Japanese for “lotus”.  
> 3\. Yodobashi Bridge is a bridge taking the Ome Highway and Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line over the Kanda River in the Nakano-Shinjuku border area known as Nakano Sakaue. Renge was referring to the vehicle/pedestrian bridge 800 feet south of Yodobashi when she mentioned the “Kanda River crossing” where she and Shin would meet.


End file.
